Martinez, Tari Win March 1 Titled Tuesday
GMs Jose Martinez and Aryan Tari won Titled Tuesday on March 1. They both held off GM Hikaru Nakamura, who finished third in the early tournament and second in the late event while streaming for 12 hours to support Ukraine. GM Raunak Sadhwani finished second in the early tournament while Martinez tacked on a fifth-place finish in the late event.
Instead of a Chess.com broadcast, viewers were encouraged to tune into Nakamura's charity stream, to which Chess.com donated $25,000 and which raised $132,724 in total.
♔ @GMHikaru is fundraising for @CARE and the Ukraine Crisis Fund and we're matching all donations during the first hour of Titled Tuesday up to $25,000.
— Chess.com (@chesscom) March 1, 2022
Watch the stream: https://t.co/5YcS0XYJi3
Donate: https://t.co/1OPxpq6BZj pic.twitter.com/Z0NiqFxmyQ
Early Tournament
Martinez went undefeated as 418 players participated in the early (8 a.m. Pacific) tournament. He finished on 10/11, drawing in round eight against Sadhwani and in the final round against GM Fabiano Caruana, who finished fourth. IM Denis Lazavik rounded out the top five.
Entering the final round, Martinez was in the sole lead on 9.5/10 with Sadhwani being the only player within half a point. A win for Caruana would have tied him with Martinez in the standings, so they played a real game, but it was drawn in 34 moves. Meanwhile, Lazavik toppled Sadhwani, who held on to second place despite the defeat.
Martinez largely earned his victory in the penultimate round, with a 105-move marathon win in round 10 against GM David Paravyan.
Sadhwani's key game was a win over Nakamura in the ninth round, snapping a 25-game winless streak for the Indian against the American.
A tough-luck sixth-place finish went to GM Grigoriy Oparin, who tied 2nd-5th place with nine points but had the worst tiebreak score.
March 1 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | 19 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2960 | 10 | |
| 2 | 9 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3001 | 9 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3162 | 9 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 2990 | 9 | |
| 5 | 11 | IM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2972 | 9 | |
| 6 | 4 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2917 | 9 | |
| 7 | 21 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2921 | 8.5 | |
| 8 | 8 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2972 | 8.5 | |
| 9 | 6 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2988 | 8.5 | |
| 9 | 60 | GM | @Masmos97 | Masoud Mosadeghpour | 2926 | 8.5 | |
| 11 | 28 | GM | @Infernal_XaM | Pavel Ponkratov | 2891 | 8.5 | |
| 12 | 10 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2967 | 8.5 | |
| 13 | 30 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 2876 | 8.5 | |
| 14 | 22 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2903 | 8 | |
| 15 | 25 | GM | @VerdeNotte | Gawain Jones | 2896 | 8 | |
| 16 | 52 | GM | @GMNeiksans | Arturs Neiksans | 2807 | 8 | |
| 17 | 14 | GM | @Denis_Makhnyov | Denis Makhnev | 2943 | 8 | |
| 18 | 124 | IM | @Agibileg | Uurtsaikh Agibileg | 2668 | 8 | |
| 19 | 70 | NM | @MightyGMpretender | Antonio KozaK | 2789 | 8 | |
| 20 | 26 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2892 | 8 | |
| 44 | 103 | GM | @Vanina1989 | Valentina Gunina | 2712 | 7 |
(Full final standings here.)
Martinez won the $1,000 prize for first place. Sadhwani took home $750, Nakamura $300, Caruana $150, and Lazavik earned $100. The $100 prize for highest-scoring female player was won by GM Valentina Gunina.
Late Tournament
There were 288 players in the late (2 p.m. Pacific) tournament and it ended with Tari's first win ever in Titled Tuesday. He had to fight for it, winning his last five games for a half-point final margin over three players: Nakamura, GM Daniil Dubov, and GM Timur Gareyev.
Tari's key win, like Martinez's hours before, came in round 10. There, Tari defeated Sadhwani, who finished seventh in the late tournament after his second-place showing early.
After a 3/5 start, Nakamura won his last six games to reach second place, but not quite the pinnacle. In round 10, he defeated Gareyev, who had been tournament leader on 7/7 before finishing in fourth.
March 1 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 19 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2939 | 9.5 | 60.75 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3146 | 9 | 63 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 2997 | 9 | 56 | |
| 4 | 75 | GM | @TimurGareyev | Timur Gareyev | 2845 | 9 | 44 | |
| 5 | 10 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2966 | 8.5 | 55.25 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2986 | 8.5 | 54.25 | |
| 7 | 2 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3014 | 8.5 | 53.75 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2928 | 8.5 | 52.75 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2966 | 8 | 56 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 2985 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 11 | 52 | IM | @kleinebeer98 | Thomas Beerdsen | 2802 | 8 | 49.5 | |
| 12 | 39 | GM | @Riazantsev | Alexander Riazantsev | 2842 | 8 | 49.25 | |
| 13 | 60 | IM | @Houdinovic | Shiyam Thavandiran | 2781 | 8 | 48.5 | |
| 14 | 28 | GM | @kuli4ik | Mikhail Demidov | 2883 | 8 | 46.75 | |
| 15 | 46 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2795 | 8 | 44 | |
| 16 | 63 | IM | @mbojan | Bojan Maksimović | 2748 | 8 | 41.5 | |
| 17 | 6 | GM | @joppie2 | Jorden van Foreest | 2968 | 8 | 34 | |
| 18 | 36 | GM | @dretch | Conrad Holt | 2826 | 7.5 | 41.25 | |
| 18 | 90 | WGM | @Flawless_Fighter | Polina Shuvalova | 2678 | 7.5 | 41.25 | |
| 20 | 25 | GM | @XDPS | Pablo Salinas Herrera | 2864 | 7.5 | 41 |
(Full final standings here.)
Tari earned $1,000 for his victory. Nakamura won $750 for second place, totaling $1,050 on the day including his early performance. Dubov's third-place finish was worth $300 as Gareyev won $150 for fourth place. Martinez tacked on $100 for fifth place for a total of $1,100 after counting his early tournament win. The $100 prize for top-scoring woman was earned by WGM Polina Shuvalova.
Titled Tuesday is a weekly tournament hosted by Chess.com, with two events every Tuesday. They are Swiss tournaments beginning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.
Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.
